Vermont senator praises Trump on border, criticizes Biden

Sen. Bernie Sanders praised President Donald Trump’s immigration policies during a recent appearance on the Tim Dillon Show, saying Trump “did a better job” securing the border than President Biden and urging Democrats to return to a policy focused on law enforcement.

“As long as we have nation states, we will have to have borders,” Sanders said. “If you don’t have borders, then you don’t have a nation.”

He added emphatically: “Trump has done a better job. I don’t like Trump, you know, but we should have a secure border, and it’s not that hard to do.”

These remarks, broadcast Wednesday in the podcast episode and now circulating widely on X and YouTube, mark one of the Vermont independent’s most marked breaks with his party.

BERNIE SANDERS SAYS TRUMP IS NOT STUPID FOR REALIZING ‘THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN,’ EVEN IF HE MAKES IT WORSE

Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, arrives for a confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Valérie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Biden didn’t do it,” he added, criticizing several administrations for failing to enforce the law.

The clip immediately gained attention across the political spectrum, with the Republican National Committee’s research arm publishing it hours later on X.

Sanders, who twice ran for president on a populist economic platform, has already broken with his party on the issue of immigration, warning during the 2020 campaign of the risks of “open borders” rhetoric. He said the United States has the “technology and manpower” to secure the border, but leaders in both parties have failed to do so.

“I’m not going to sit here and tell you that overall (Biden) has done a good job — he hasn’t,” Sanders said.

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A family of five claiming to be from Guatemala and a man claiming to be from Peru, in a pink shirt, walk through the desert after crossing the border wall in the Tucson sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Lukeville, Arizona. (AP Photo/Matt York)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 2.47 million migrant encounters during the 2023 financial year, an all-time high, compared to about 458,000 during Trump’s final year.

The senator made the remarks as he promoted his new book, “Fight Oligarchy,” and responded to Dillon’s pointed questions about what the Democratic Party’s platform should be.

Sanders’ tone marks a stark shift from his 2020 campaign, when he rejected talk of a “border crisis” and accused Trump of “demonizing immigrants.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a “No Kings” rally in Washington, D.C., Saturday. (Fox News / Pool)

During a Fox News town hall in March 2020, Sanders said he “would not close the borders” even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, calling border closures “xenophobic.”

In January 2019, as Trump, in his first term as president, argued on prime time that a border crisis required urgent action, Sanders downplayed the situation, saying at the time that “we don’t need to create artificial crises” at the border.

Given this history, Sanders’ new tone represents a striking reversal. By saying “it’s not that hard” to secure the border and urging Democrats to “have a border,” the Vermont independent echoes long-standing conservative arguments.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to Sanders’ office for additional comment.